Producer Michael G. Wilson held a press conference
in Istanbul yesterday to address the many false and
exaggerated stories about the "Skyfall" filming circulating
in the media...

Istanbul Press Conference

23rd April 2012

Yesterday, producer Michael G. Wilson was joined
by Ali Akdeniz of the Anka film company (which is responsible
for
the
filming in Turkey) to address a multitude of press stories that
have carried some serious inaccuracies over the filming
of "Skyfall" in
Istanbul. The crowd of two dozen journalists and a host of photographers
were given detailed explanations
of how some of the misconceptions have arose. The production
team have endured a number of false stories in the media, and
some sensational fiction that not even the British tabloids would
believe.

Answering the key criticism that has been unfairly leveled
at the production, Wilson reasserted that it was a priority of
the production to leave places better than they found them. "We
have previously shot in cultural places in many countries. We
pay great attention to not cause any damage to such places,” he
said.

"Even before we came here
we filmed at the National Gallery in London, and in all of the
places, we've always come away with
a good feeling and all of the people seemed to be happy to welcome
us back. So, hopefully, we can maintain that feeling here in
Istanbul and across Turkey," he added.

On the subject of a particular motorcycle stunt that appeared
to have smashed a window and damaged a building in the historic
Grand Bazaar, Wilson explained: "If you go back a week or
two after we leave you'll find there is no building there at
all. We built that entire building, but I have to say, I was
up there today and I was convinced it was part of the site -
but it was actually our own construction. Similarly, when you
go back and look at the window that the motorcycle came through
in the Grand Bazaar, you'll see that it's actually a very tall
opening and we've made it smaller and put in a window - it's
our own window [that was damaged during filming]. It's all part
of us being illusionists. This is what the art of cinema is."

But Wilson also said the stunts were not always successful,
and that one of the stuntmen (doubling the villain), who was
driving a motorcycle, accidentally broke a real window of a shop
in the Grand Bazaar. The shop owner has not yet accepted the
proposal to compensate damages, but a positive answer is expected,
he added.

Another topic of controversy in the Turkish media was the supposed
damage being done to rooftops in Istanbul by the filming of a
motorcycle chase. Wilson said the motorcycles were actually moving
on platforms that had been placed on the roofs, at a cost of
135,000 Turkish liras. Original roof tiles were carefully removed
and boards of synthetic tiles were put in place for the filming,
before the originals were later replaced. The media were shown
this work up close yesterday in an attempt to put an end to the
story.

Grand Bazaar Tradesmen Association President Hasan Firat earlier
told press that all necessary precautionary measures had been
taken and permission granted by the Council of Monuments, the
Istanbul Municipality and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. "The
movie will generate incalculable revenue for our country by advertising
Turkey," he said.

Speaking about the outlandish newspaper fantasy of weapons smuggling
to Syria under the pretext of filmmaking, Wilson said: “If
someone takes this claim seriously, the safety of the film team
will be in danger. I want to underline it. This is extremely
dangerous and false news. I advise the person who made this news
to quit journalism and make a film in Hollywood, because he has
a very good imagination.”

Ali Akdeniz said they had made a big effort to carry the project
to this point. “The reason why the film is being made in
Turkey rather than any other country is that the natural environments
here have not been used in any other big project before, as well
as the promises given by relevant ministries.” He said
preparations for filming had begun as long as eight to nine years
ago.

Just a day before the press conference, the media was hyping
up supposed complaints from anonymous business owners around
the Bazaar. "I did not want my store to be part of the movie
because I am pretty certain it will show Turkey as the home of
the bad guy James Bond is after," one said. "I saw
they had decorated the bazaar with types of things we don't sell
here," another said.

Speaking about the claims that the decoration used in the market
place did not accurately reflect Turkey, Akdeniz said viewers
would see the Egyptian Bazaar, the New Mosque and the beauties
of the streets, rather than the market place.

Daniel Craig arrived in Istanbul yesterday, and would be staying
on for three three weeks of filming. Other members of the cast,
such as Naomie Harris, were scheduled to be in the city for five
weeks. Wilson added that Turkish actors would perform in the
scenes shot in Fethiye, and that there were some 250 Turks in
the filming team.